Derby manager for GM Treble, Gary Stott, said if the waterfall was switched off at night the maximum running costs for water and electricity would be £10,000 per year.

He said the remaining £22,000 of the council’s budget would have to be accounted for by litter-picking and the cleaning of graffiti.

Three-year-old Grace Harrod of Carlton plays in the water fountain in Nottingham's Old Market Square, which is maintained by GM Treble. (Image: Joseph Raynor)

But he said he did not believe that much money could be spent on those two jobs.

He said: “That figure seems somewhat inflated. It seems hard to justify £22,000 to clear up litter. They have got litter guys who deal with that anyway as part of their normal function.

“If the issue is graffiti, they would clean it off whether it was switched on or not. If I put graffiti on it now, I’m sure someone would be there tomorrow to clean it up.”

Mr Stott got in touch with the Derby Telegraph when he saw our stories about the Market Place waterfall to say he believed the council were “paying a huge premium for a basic water feature”.

He said GM Treble - which has worked on the Queen's Leisure Centre and the Market Hall - looks after an impressive water feature and fountain in Nottingham’s Old Market Square, run by Nottingham City Council.

Mr Stott said the annual running costs for the feature was "a fraction" of £32,000 – so Derby City Council’s figure for a less complex fountain was “extraordinarily high”.